The Future Cities Institute brought over 60 planning students into the room with the leadership team at BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region for a focused design charrette on Canada's largest affordable home ownership initiative.
This was not a presentation. It was a working session. Students pressure-tested core concepts, from central parking models to walk-up configurations and shared public spaces, offering constructive, candid feedback on what works, what raises questions, and what could be strengthened. They brought ideas the team had not yet considered.
Many of these students are graduating into entry-level planning and city-building roles. They are not just future planners. They are part of the demographic BUILD NOW aims to serve. Feedback from 60 emerging professionals, grounded in lived experience, financial reality, and design literacy, helps ensure that new housing models respond to how people actually want to live, move, and build community.
Thank you to Philip Mills, Scott Higgins, Shanna H., Maggie Raposo, and the rest of the BUILD NOW: Waterloo Region team for engaging openly and thoughtfully with students.